taler-merchant-demos

assigning-copyright.html (10140B)

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 <title>When a Company Asks For Your Copyright
 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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 <h2>When a Company Asks For Your Copyright</h2>
 <div class="thin"></div>
 
 <p>Companies that develop free software and release it under the GNU GPL
 sometimes distribute some copies of the code in other ways.  If they
 distribute the exact same code under a different license to certain
 users that pay for this, typically permitting including the code in
 proprietary programs, we call it &ldquo;selling exceptions.&rdquo;  If they
 distribute some version of the code solely in a proprietary manner, we
 call that releasing a purely proprietary version of the program.</p>
 
 <p>&ldquo;<a href="/philosophy/selling-exceptions.html">Selling exceptions
 to the GNU GPL</a>&rdquo; explains why
 selling exceptions is acceptable, though only barely.  By contrast,
 releasing a purely proprietary version is outright wrong, like
 any other proprietary software.</p>
 
 <p>Companies normally do these things using code they
 developed.  Since they hold the copyright on that code, they can
 legally distribute it in any manner, even in multiple manners in
 parallel.  But what happens when you publish a modified version of
 that free program, and the company wants to include your changes in
 its version?</p>
 
 <p>Since you got the program under the GPL, when you distribute a
 modified version you have to license it under the GPL.  If the company
 receives a copy, it will be able to use those changes under the GPL;
 it won't be allowed to include your changes in that program and sell
 exceptions for it.  It also won't be able to release purely
 proprietary versions containing your code.  If this is the outcome you
 want, you get it by default.  However, if the company intends to sell
 exceptions, it will probably decide not to use your changes.</p>
 
 <p>Suppose, though, that you're not opposed to selling exceptions and
 you're willing to let the company do so while including your changes
 in the program.  You can agree to this, but you need to be careful
 about what you sign, or you may be surprised by the results.</p>
 
 <p>The company will probably invite you to assign or license your
 copyright to the company, by signing a copyright assignment contract
 or a contributor license agreement.  That in itself is not inherently bad; for
 instance, many GNU software developers have assigned copyrights
 to the FSF.  However, the FSF never sells exceptions, and its
 assignment contracts include a commitment to distribute the
 contributor's code only with source and only permitting
 redistribution.</p>
 
 <p>The company's proposed contract may not include such a commitment.  It
 might instead let the company use your changes any way it likes.  If
 you sign that, the company could do various things with your code.  It
 could keep selling exceptions for a program including your code.  It
 could release purely proprietary modified or extended versions
 including your code.  It could even include your code <em>only</em> in
 proprietary versions.  Your contribution of code could turn out to be,
 in effect, a donation to proprietary software.</p>
 
 <p>It is up to you which of these activities to permit, but here are the
 FSF's recommendations.  If you plan to make major contributions to the
 project, insist that the contribution agreement require that software
 versions including your contributions be available to the public under
 a free software license.  This will allow the developer to sell
 exceptions, but prevent it from using your contributions in software
 that is only available under a proprietary license.</p>
 
 <p>If your contributions are smaller, you could accept a weaker
 condition, that the company make your contributions available in a
 free software release as well as possibly in nonfree programs.
 This would allow the company to use your contributions in
 modified software that's only available under a proprietary license.
 Releasing proprietary software is never a good thing, but if your
 changes are smaller, it might be more important to improve the free
 version than resist the nonfree versions.</p>
 
 <p>You can control these outcomes by insisting on the proper conditions
 in the contract.  To allow selling exceptions for the program that
 contains your code, but refuse to let the company release purely
 proprietary versions containing your code, you can insist on a
 condition more or less like this:</p>
 
 <blockquote class="emph-box">
   <p>Any program based on (as defined in GNU General Public License
   version 3) Hacker's code that FOO distributes shall be made
   available by FOO under <b>(a)</b> the &ldquo;GNU General Public License (GPL),
   version 2 or later,&rdquo; or <b>(b)</b> the licensing in (a), above, but with &ldquo;2&rdquo;
   replaced by any higher existing GPL version number.  Provided FOO
   makes the program available as source code gratis to the public in
   this way, it may also distribute the identical program to some of
   its users under terms permitting them to link the program's code
   with nonfree code and release the combination in binary form under a
   license of their own choosing.</p>
 </blockquote>
 
 <p>Or, if what you object to is that some variant <em>of your code</em>
 might be released solely in a proprietary version, you can insist on a
 condition more or less like this:</p>
 
 <blockquote class="emph-box">
   <p>Any program based on (as defined in GNU General Public License
   version 3) Hacker's code that FOO distributes shall be made
   available by FOO under <b>(a)</b> the &ldquo;GNU General Public License (GPL),
   version 2 or later,&rdquo; or <b>(b)</b> the licensing in (a), above, but with &ldquo;2&rdquo;
   replaced by any higher existing GPL version number.  Provided FOO
   makes the program available as source code gratis to the public in
   this way, it may also distribute the same version of Hacker's code
   in other programs released under other licenses of its own choosing.</p>
 </blockquote>
 
 <p>If the program is released under the GNU Affero GPL, then add &ldquo;Affero&rdquo;
 before &ldquo;General,&rdquo; change &ldquo;GPL&rdquo; to &ldquo;AGPL,&rdquo; change &ldquo;2 or&rdquo; to &ldquo;3 or,&rdquo; and
 it could make sense to replace &ldquo;that FOO distributes&rdquo; with &ldquo;that FOO
 distributes, or deploys on a server accessible to users other than
 FOO.&rdquo;</p>
 
 <p>The FSF has had these texts reviewed by a lawyer, but you should get
 your own legal advice before using them.</p>
 
 <p>When a company says which of these conditions it will accept, that
 will show you how far it plans to depart from the principles of free
 software.  Then you can respond to ensure your work will contribute to
 the free software community and not be diverted into proprietary
 software.</p>
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 the FSF.  Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
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 <p>Copyright &copy; 2010, 2014, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
 
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 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
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 $Date: 2021/10/01 17:02:54 $
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